Conduction
by Scorpio-Rat
Summary: Like lightning to water, from one life to another, they're drawn together again. After the tragedy that marked the Silver Millennium's end, reincarnation leads to another chance. A series of Ami/Makoto short stories, some AU and some based on canon timelines.
1. Chapter 1

AN: In case I wasn't as obvious as I thought I was, the first half of this takes place in the Silver Millennium, and the second half would be roughly in present day, in a world where the Dark Kingdom did not rise again, meaning that the senshi did not awaken either.

* * *

Chaos swallowed the Moon Palace, and the silver orb that hung in Earth's sky engulfed itself in flames and darkness. People screamed and shouted over the clashing of blades and collapsing buildings, and the air was filled with an inhuman, oppressive force as the being known as Queen Metallia grew closer to them.

Mercury stumbled out onto the streets, clutching her side in a useless attempt to cover her wound. Inside, the frostbitten body of a once loyal general lay still, weakly clutching a red stained crystal dagger. She was of no use to her princess in this condition, but she did not want to spend the rest of her time bleeding out in some quiet corner. After seeing a flash of lightning in the sky, her glossed over eyes refocused, her mind made up. It was becoming a chore to stay awake, but she had to see _her_ at least one more time…

Minutes felt like hours in her pained haze, but she followed the crackling bolts of electric in the distance until she was looking out at a once peaceful town square.

Mercury leaned against a broken column and watched as Jupiter ripped through another row of shambling soldiers. Hot white electricity filled the air with the sharp smell of ozone, mixing with the sicker scent of death as the poor soldiers disintegrated before her eyes.

Jupiter fell to one knee, already covered in cuts and slashes from the lucky swords that had gotten close enough to touch her. Her hair was, miraculously, still tied up in her ponytail, and a weak smile crossed Mercury's face. Even in their states, one covered in her own blood, and the other covered in the enemy's, she still saw Jupiter as beautiful. Mercury's knees went weak from blood loss as Jupiter finished her battle with one last burst of flower petals, and she slid down into a sitting position, resting her back on the ruins.

"Mercury!" Sometime between blinks, Jupiter had crossed the yard to kneel next to her. "You're hurt…" She felt her hand being moved from her side as her vision blurred, and heard a curse. Mercury struggled to catch her breath enough to speak, determined to say what she'd been avoiding for years now.

"W-wait.."

"Shh, you don't have to talk right now…" Jupiter picked her up with some difficulty, and Mercury felt like cursing too. Why was she so stubborn? But her annoyance faded quickly, along with most of her awareness as she started to drift off, distracted by how nice it felt to not have to move anymore. She could sleep for a moment, and then she'd confess…

"Mercury, you have to stay with me! Mercury...?"

* * *

Ami Mizuno wasn't that interested in ice skating, but her friends had managed to drag her into the indoor center anyway. She could never quite seem to say no to Usagi when she wanted to do some new activity.

While Usagi did her best to not fall over on the ice, Ami watched from the sidelines. And that's when she saw the other girl across the rink. The skater was at least a head taller than Ami, but she moved with enough skill to be mistaken for a professional. Ami's eyes never left the girl in the green dress as she built up speed with a few powerful strides, and then did a spinning jump, landing perfectly balanced on one leg. Maybe she was a professional after all.

Yet she was alone.

"Who's that?" Ami jumped as Usagi seemed to materialize out of nowhere to talk to her.

"U-um, I have no idea, I was just watching…" The girl turned into another tight spin, this time firmly planted on the ice.

"Well whoever she is, she's really good!" Usagi said, clinging to the wall to stay upright. "You think she'd give us lessons if we asked?"

"No! I mean...she looks busy, I wouldn't want to interrupt her…" Ami looked down and blushed, not entirely sure why the thought of approaching the stranger was so intimidating. She'd probably just disappoint her with her lack of skating ability anyway.

"Aw, I'm sure she's nice, but if you think we'd be bothering her…" Usagi pouted and went back to practicing, though this time her constant falls had attracted a dark haired older boy to see if she was alright.

She wasn't sure what drove her to do it, but every week after that, Ami showed up at the ice rink again. And every week, the brunette girl in green was there at the same time, skating by herself. Ami never came near her, her rented pair of skates sitting beside her on the bench. It was completely illogical, but she couldn't help but be drawn back in just to watch one stranger.

It took at least two months before Ami finally worked up the nerve to even get on the ice. It was a waste of money to come and not at least attempt to skate, she reasoned, though she did her best to stay out of the other more accomplished people's way.

About an hour's worth of wobbling and clutching the wall for dear life, Ami was finally balancing well enough to push off into the middle of the rink. Until the blade of her skate caught a rough patch of ice, and she pitched forward with a yelp. Ami's eyes squeezed shut as she braced herself for a hard landing, only for a hand to catch her by the elbow. It pulled her back in the other direction, and she ended up using another person's chest as support. A pair of arms steadied her, and she slowly opened her eyes to see a familiar green dress.

Ami's face reddened.

"That was a close one!" Her savior said. She looked up, and bright green eyes met her own. Her mouth went dry. "You okay?" Ami nodded quickly, and the other girl smiled and let her go, though they were still close enough for her to catch her again if needed.

"Good. I noticed you were having trouble earlier, so I kind of...was watching you to make sure you didn't need help.." The other girl blushed too, but not as badly as Ami was now.

"...You saw all of that?" Well there went her plan of not embarrassing herself. Maybe she should just go home before this ended any worse.

"No wait, it's alright! If you want to, I can give you some tips or something." Ami looked up again, unable to believe her ears. "I'm Makoto, sorry for not introducing myself first..." Makoto. It felt like the right name for her, though Ami had no basis for that gut feeling.

"I'd...I'd like that, if it's not any trouble. My name's Ami."

"Don't worry about it. I'm usually just here by myself, and that gets really boring. Skating is better with other people," she said, though her eyes told a different, lonelier story. Ami just couldn't wrap her head around why she didn't seem to have any friends, but she certainly wouldn't object to her company.

Makoto grabbed Ami's hand, and for the first time since lacing up her skates that day, Ami didn't stumble on the ice.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: This would take place sometime after the end of the anime or manga series.

* * *

Ami hated the unknown. Any factor that she couldn't predict was terrifying to her. Yes, she knew that life wasn't an algorithm that could be predetermined, but she liked having as much information as possible. Especially when it pertained to her personal life.

She was holed up in her room, sitting at her desk with her reading glasses perched on the bridge of her nose as she tapped away at her handheld computer. Off to the side was a plate of perfectly cut and assembled sandwiches, wrapped in plastic so neatly that it somehow failed to crush the food in any way. It was so professional looking that no one would guess that it wasn't from a convenience store.

Ami was still emotionally recovering from when Makoto had dropped it off at her door. She knew that Mako had told her it hadn't taken that long to make, but there was so much _effort_ clearly put into the platter. People didn't waste part of their day to make their friend's food that could have been picked up at a store just because, right? But then again, Makoto would be that one exception to a norm. She was just that nice. And it was really starting to confuse Ami in all sorts of new ways.

They'd know each other for years now, but her brain had decided that Ami's college years were the perfect time to stumble over a crush on someone she was close to. Not some guy in her university class, not even a celebrity, but Mako. And so every time they were near each other over the recent months, Ami felt even more awkward and out of place. Every interaction was picked apart in her head and analyzed in a new light. What used to be platonic between them was scrutinized to the nth degree, and Ami could barely look her in the eyes when Mako had shown up at her door this morning to drop off the food.

"You always forget to eat something when you're studying," she had said, a knowing smile on her face. "And I'm not about to let you survive on soup cans again." Ami had mumbled a thank you and tried not to sink into the floor of her own apartment as she stared at their shoes.

She was a little jealous of Mako, actually. She seemed oblivious of Ami's dilemma, judging by her unchanging behavior. She probably didn't even think of her as a possible romance option, but…. Ami didn't know that for sure. And that unknown factor was what drove her into trying to code the impossible.

She was going to invent the first crush-identifying radar. If anyone found out about this, especially Minako, she'd never hear the end of it, but Ami refused to keep second guessing everything if there was another option.

After a solid five hours of researching what factors she needed to account for to sense a "crush", such as raised body temperature, hormonal fluctuations, increased brain activity, and subtle behavior shifts, Ami combined the multiple scanning functions into a single incorporated program.

She sat back in her chair with a sigh and took her glasses off, rubbing her eyes. It had been mentally exhausting, but the prototype was complete. Now she just needed to test it out. And what better person to use as a guinea pig than herself?

Heart pounding, Ami turned the supercomputer so the sensor faced her, and then ran the program. If it all went off without a hitch, it should run a full body scan on her, and then compare the readings to her in a prerecorded "neutral" state to determine whether she was experiencing a change in an emotional state. The screen blinked a few times, and then nothing. For once, Ami's supercomputer showed only a blank screen, and that was probably the scariest result of all.

Maybe… maybe it was silly of her to try in the first place. Ami shut the computer and sank a bit lower in her seat, deep in thought. She should know better than to try and quantify emotions as numbers. People were too complex to be read so easily. If she wanted objective truth, Ami would have to do what all scientists did when testing a hypothesis: actually collect data herself. Makoto would probably appreciate her being straightforward anyway.

The thought of confessing anything anytime soon made her want to lock herself in her room for another week, so maybe it could wait until after these exams were over… Ami carefully removed a sandwich from the platter and smiled slightly. She was sure Makoto could be patient with her for a little longer.


End file.
